Five on Friday - January 7, 2022 ~ December 2021 Scratch Monthly Mani Kit, 2021 Goal Recap & 2022 Goals, A Few Blog Changes and A Few Brands I Want To Try in 2022

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all have had a great week - it was a bit hard to go back to work this week after almost 2 weeks off, and it was brutally cold so that made it even harder! I'm glad it's the weekend! I hope you all had a fantastic New Years - I had just a quiet night at home with the kids, my husband worked, so we just hung out (and I started watching the new season of Queer Eye!)

ONE 

I purchased everything in this post

I just got my December 2021 Scratch Monthly Mani Kit and as always, they are super cute - these aren't usually the style I go for, but these are still fun! This is an easy, affordable subscription that features nail wraps from GoScrachIt that are exclusive to the kit each month and designed by NinaNailedIt!

The Scratch Monthly Mani Kit is $18.00 US monthly with free shipping everywhere! Each month you get an exclusive set of wraps that aren't available for purchase and a little extra mani goodie with it!

This month's subscription came with:

• Fa La La nail wraps
• snowflake nail art stickers 

I have to say, these nail wraps are easily my favourite nail wraps to use - I have tried quite a few wraps and nothing compares! You can see past reviews and nail looks on Scratch wraps here if you are interested!

TWO 

Let's talk GOALS! I'm not really one for resolutions in the New Year, but I do sometimes like to set goals for the year, especially with the blog, beauty usage, hobbies and shopping! 

But, before, I dive in to 2020, did I meet my 2021 Goals I set:

• Be More eco-conscious with my consuming, and brands that I'm supporting. I like brands that donate to charities, focus on packaging and their overall impact. (Ah, this is hard, I don't think I really focused on this while consuming, but I did buy from some brands who focused on this!)
• Focus on smaller, more BIPOC brands during the year (Yes, I do think I purchased from lots of smaller brands, and I did purchase from some BIPOC Brands - Danessa Myricks, Terra Moons, Cheekbone, and Dimension Nails)
• Also, focus more on local Calgary, Alberta and Canadian brands (Yes, purchased from some Canadian brands, buying from all Calgarian brands for my blogiversary giveaway, and even found a new Calgarian makeup brand!)
• Go on a "low-buy" January to March (less makeup, books, products) while I focus on using up/reading what I have! (Ha - nope, not at all!)
• I am also loving my reading, so I would hope to focus on more books, and perhaps reviews of books I really love! (Oh yes, I totally did this and will keep it up moving forward!)

THREE 

I think my goals for 2022 are a little less blog focused, and more about my personal life, but I do still have a few blog goals too - here's what I'm hoping to achieve this year:

• Be more plant based - I'm not planning on going fully vegetarian, but I would like to drastically reduce my meat intake and make some good choices regarding my impact overall on the planet. 
• Focus on what I have - I love consuming, so I really want to be mindful about what I'm purchasing and using. I really culled my makeup collection this year and I want to be more conscious about what I'm bringing in. I'm hoping to stick to a budget, not buy unnecessary products (for example, I have enough mugs, tea, candles, bath bombs, shower gels and lotion - so I can only buy those when I use up most of these). So I want to use the library more, Shop My Stash, Dupe the Vibes of palettes, etc. 
• Stick to a $200 a month budget for beauty and books - this one is straightforward, I'm hoping to only spend $200 per month on beauty products and books (I'm not great at a budget, but I'm really going to try!)
• Scrapbook at least 2 years - I have really been trying to get back in to my digital scrapbooking, so I want to try and finish at least 2 more years! 
• Focus on Self-care - I really let my self-care slip a little last year (just in terms of routine and taking care of myself), so I want to make sure that I'm maximizing my routines, using all my masks, beauty tools, and going for a few beauty treatments when I need it! But, also try to stress less and focus on keeping my mental health good! 

Any goals that you have for the year? 

FOUR 

There are also a few changes coming to the blog that aren't goals - nothing crazy! I'm still mainly a beauty blog, but I love my Friday wrap up posts as well as I love writing my book posts, so I want to add more! I think I will up my book posts, like monthly reading wrap-ups. I will probably by doing less empties posts - only makeup and face skincare products and probably every 3 months instead of every month or two. I'm not going to do a big project pan anymore as I've gotten my collection under control and I got in to a big rut with the same things. I also won't be doing Monthly Makeup Baskets or Palettes of the week anymore because I have a more reasonable amount of everything. My Monthly Hauls will be Beauty & Books now and I really want to get back in to more makeup looks! 

FIVE 

And, I always like to pick a few brands to try out in the next year, and this year here are the 5 brands that I want to try in 2022:

-Kiko Milano

-JoJos Bath Bombs 

-Victoria Beckham Beauty

-phytosurgence 

-Hindash Beauty 

I hope you all have a great weekend - I would love to know your plans and what you are looking forward to in 2022!